Lower Police Joining Missing Persons Program

ERMA — Lower Township Police Chief Edward Donohue announced Monday Feb. 23 that Lower Township police has enrolled in the “A Child Is Missing Alert Program,” (ACIM).
The Florida based, non-profit, organization is devoted to assisting law enforcement in search and early recovery efforts during the initial hours of a child or elderly person’s disappearance via a rapid response notification system utilizing a high tech telephone calling program.
ACIM uses a three prong program, a telephone data base, GEO mapping system and satellite imagery System.
Donohue noted the program, which is supported by federal appropriations, grants and law enforcement forfeiture funds along with donations, is offered free of charge to law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Participation in this program will not require additional equipment or extra phone lines, he said.
When a child or elderly person has been reported missing in Lower Township, police will call ACIM and provide pertinent information about the individual such as description, clothes worn and time and location last seen. ACIM Technicians will pull up the location provided with a computerized satellite mapping system.
Then a customized phone alert message is recorded and phoned to the area where the person was last seen. ACIM can place up to 1000 calls in 60 seconds. Call recipients are to call police with any information they have about the missing person. Answering machines will record calls so that residents will receive the alert when they return home. The program is available 24/7, 365 days a year.
Moments after the police department contacts ACIM, the technician punches up an aerial view of the region complete with street names, local landmarks, type of terrain, business listings, types of restaurants, schools, water hazards, parks, bus and train stations. The technician is then able to grasp the distance, scale, and proximity of the last known sighting of the missing person.
All of this information can prove invaluable when evaluating a missing child or elderly person’s scenario.
Armed with this information, “hotspots” can be identified such as areas where a missing child might gravitate. A child’s curiosity might lead them to a lake. A run away teen, on a cold evening, might seek the warmth and camouflage of a fast food restaurant.
In addition the technician will also be able to see attractive hazards to children and the elderly such as ponds, lakes, streams, marshes, wooded areas.
The technician can then follow a likely path of a missing child or elderly person and project a best incident finder zone in cooperation with the local police department.
Donohue noted that in an abduction scenario case, the program will be used in tandem with New Jersey’s Amber Alert System and Cape May County Search Plan protocols.
He stated, “The initial hours after police receive a missing person report are critical.”
“This program will enable us to get as many eyes as possible out there in our neighborhoods to assists our officers in locating children or Alzheimer’s patients, who have wandered off or may have possibly been the victims of an abduction.”
ACIM can be used if a school needs to be locked down due to a security issue, Donohue told the Herald. The system will call surrounding homes to inform them of the situation.
Lower Township residents and businesses with published hard line phones are already available to the “Child Is Missing” phone notification system.
However, Lower Township residents who have cell phones or unpublished numbers can sign up to register with the program and receive more information at www.achildismissing.org,
To date, 13 other police departments in New Jersey have enrolled in the “A Child Is Missing Program.”